Liberia: ‘Boye Charles’ Senator-elect in River Gee County; As Opposition Candidates Continue to Lead in Official Results Announced So FarMONROVIA – In River Gee County, Mr. Johnathan Sogbie, famously known as Boye Charles of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) has been announced winner of the River-Gee County Midterm Senatorial Elections. He defeated incumbent Senator Matthew Jay who ran as an independent candidate to become the next Senator of the County – that’s according to the National Election official results announced today. Koung is a member of the Prince Johnson’s MDR but he’s is believed to be the CDC candidate by consensus. In Montserrado County, incumbent Senator Mr. Abraham Darius Dillon leads the CDC Thomas Fallah 107,644 votes while Fallah follows with 63,995. The total votes count so far place Mr. Dillon in a comfortable lead with 60.9% against the ruling CDC candidate Fallah who has obtained 36.2%.

We have been inspired by the strong commitment to democracy expressed by Liberians in these elections. We again recall the commitments made by stakeholders in the Code of Conduct to ensure a peaceful and transparent electoral process. We call on all political parties, leaders, candidates and media actors to renounce the use of inciting language and premature declarations of victory. We also call on political leaders and candidates to pursue any disputes through peaceful means and dialogue in accordance with the law. International partners continue to follow closely the electoral process.

Serving as guest speaker, the Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Bannet Ndyanabangi pledged the UNFPA’s support to the institution and called on the graduates to go out and serve to save lives. In 2019, it was on the verge of closure because of lack of budgetary allotment when the UNFPA intervened and saved the school from closing. The health workforce including the nursing and midwifery arms tends to be concentrated in cities, leaving women in rural areas with limited access to skilled care. Speaking further, she however said, despite the immense contributions of UNFPA, the school continues to grapple with several challenges that if not addressed, could threatened its operation. On behalf of the Ministry of Health, the Assistant Minister for Curative Affairs, Dr. Gorbee G. Logan thanked UNFPA for its immense support to the school.

It is completely unacceptable for any candidate to remain quiet while their supporters disrupt the peace of the country. He maintained that while unofficial results show candidates leading in various counties, the most important outcome for this vote is peace. Vote counting is underway in the Special Senatorial election and Referendum after a day of peaceful voting Tuesday, December 8, 2020. 14 senators are facing re-elections in their respective counties because one Senator, Alphonso Gaye of Grand Gedeh County declined to contest. Liberia’s National Election Commission had said that ballots from Tuesday’s vote are being sorted and counted, with the first provisional results being announced beginning Thursday afternoon.

MONROVIA – Provisional Results of the December 8, 2020, Special Senatorial Elections announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC) on Thursday put four candidates of the opposition Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) in an early lead. In Margibi County, Ivar K. Jones (CDC) is crawling behind former House Speaker James Emmanuel Nuquay with 1,099 votes constituting 38.0%. Nuquay (PUP) has a commanding lead of 1,504 votes constituting 52.0%. So far, he has an overwhelming lead of 60.8% constituting 44,692 while CDC’s Thomas Fallah is trailing with 26,697 votes constituting 37.3%. The Justice Minister is also calling on the leadership of all political parties, and independent candidates, to exercise patience as the National Elections Commission (NEC) begins the tallying of results of the polls.

Monrovia – The Norwegian Nobel Committee today, Friday, 10 December, presented the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Award to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) at a special ceremony in Oslo, Norway. WFP’s Executive Director, David Beasley, received the Award on behalf of the global WFP family during a virtual ceremony because of the Coronavirus pandemic. In October, the WFP was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations. The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the United Nations World Food Program is in recognition of the important link between conflict and hunger and the critical role that food assistance plays in supporting the first step towards peace and stability. This is an award that WFP shares with many others.

FOYA DISTRICT, Lofa County – The ruins of a factory sit on a major route in a town called Menigesua, towards the Sierra Leone border. ULIMO captured Foya District, Lofa County, from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) in 1993 and stayed here until 1995. ULIMO looted everything they could sell for cash across the border, including cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rice, handheld rice mills, furniture and zinc roofing sheets. Abu Johnson holds the remnant of a generator in the old powerhouse that provided electricity for Foya District. Kosiah’s ULIMO looted without restraint and killed without mercy any that betrayed or disobeyed them, survivors say.

FrontPageAfrica has not been able to verify the name of the victim, but however, gathered that he is a commercial motorcyclist. He was among scores of supporters who had gathered at the Liberty Party headquarters, based on the instruction from Senator Dillon, to celebrate preliminary results being announced by the National Elections Commission. He was hit by the speeding vehicle that did not stop, neither did the tail vehicle the end of the convoy. Eyewitnesses said there was presence of huge crowd along the Tubman Boulevard where the Liberty Party has its headquarters when the incident occurred. Following the incident that left him in a pool of blood, he was taken to the ELWA Hospital for treatment.

Monrovia – Classroom teacher Wilfred Gongloe died five years ago but his outstanding legacy as an educator is still insight. Residents of Glehyee and several other speakers who spoke during the program claimed that the resource center the first of its kind and will expose school-going children of Glehyee and adjacent towns and beyond to quality education. Nimba County senatoria candidate Edith Gongloe-Weh stated that the resource center was not the Gongloe’s development but development for the people of Glehyee, Nimba and that of Liberia. Gongloe the Fulani Community through its President Abraham Sangare had agreed to provide solar panels to the resource center. The late Wilfred Kehlebo Gongloe was born June 5, 1922 in Glehyee Zorpee and died on April 2, 2015.

Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County- The Government of Liberia has formally dedicated the second mobile-based station tower in Gbarpolu County through its Universal Access Program. The Universal Access Program is a joint initiative by government and partners through the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA). He called on the community to take care of the facility by keeping it safe, clean and well protected. For his part, Gbarpolu’s County Development Superintendent Joseph Arkoi said the people of the town and county were excited by the development and the economic impact based station will make in their lives . Mr. Arkoi said he was excited because the facility is a modern solar technology which will enable them not to worry about the cost of fuel oil.

Liberia: Organization for Women and Children Extols Liberians for Conducting Peaceful Elections, Calls on National Elections Commission to be Swift In Responding to Citizens’ ComplaintsMonrovia – The Organization for Women and Children (ORWOCH) has extolled Liberians for conducting themselves peacefully during the just ended special senatorial elections, national referendum. In the statement, ORWOCH called on the National Elections Commission (NEC) to swiftly respond to citizens’ concerns and also called on all political parties and their supporters to remain peaceful, law-abiding and exercise restraint. We call on the National Elections Commission to be swift in responding to reports from citizens and call on security personnel to exercise restraint and calm. The Accountability room will continue to monitor the situation and issue statements in the wake of official pronouncements from the National Elections Commission. It observed that the commencement of the elections was generally peaceful with polling process on the overall opened on time except for a few places.

In an effort to popularize Liberia’s Accepted Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Rescue Alternatives Liberia (RAL) has compiled all Liberia’s Accepted UPR recommendations and distributed to public, intellectual and hatai centers as well as ordinary citizens across the country. “In this document, the recommendations marked supported are the ones Liberia accepted to implement,” Mr. Nimely said. In November 2020, Liberia’s human rights record was reviewed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the council used the UPR recommendations during the review. The recommendations are used by the United Nations Human Rights Council to review Liberia’s human rights record every four year. The UPR is United Nations Mechanism put in place to review the human rights record of member states every four year.

MONROVIA – The United States Department of the Treasury has issued sanctions on Grand Cape Mount County Senator, Varney Sherman, for his involvement in series of alleged corrupt practices, including bribing judges to sway cases in his favor. The sanctions were announced on Wednesday as part of the U.S. observance of International Anti-Corruption Day. With these designations, Treasury encourages all governments to implement anti-money laundering reforms to address corruption vulnerabilities. In 2016, Sherman was indicted by the Liberian government, along with several other government officials, for their involvement in the USD 950,000 bribery scheme. In 2019, the presiding judge acquitted all individuals accused of being involved in the bribery scheme.

The story of four women working for Liberia’s first industrial gold mining company in Grand Cape Mount County – southwest Liberia, shows the daring competence of women who can explore any professional path. Bea Mountain Mining Company, which runs the gold mines, seems to have covered significant number of pages in the storybook of these four women. Starting as a volunteer mechanic for Bea Mountain in 2014, the 32-year-old was destined to become famous at the mining company. She started working with the mining company in 2016 after recommendation from her previous supervisor. When the celebrations were over, she heard the mining company was offering training for female drivers; so, Handful set on a new career path.

!” Senator Dillon posted to Facebook. He said the results from the elections should serve as a wakeup call to the government to govern properly. We want to thank our people for turning out to participate in the process and we expect that the National Election Commission will do nothing less, than announcing the will of the people,” Dillon said. Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission says the election was held consistent with the NEC transparency requirement. Additionally, copies of the results were given to the first two representatives who obtained highest vote gathered at every polling place.